1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns a roller bearing for performing swivel motions, including a mechanism for synchronously guiding the roller bearing cage. Roller bearings of this type are used, for example, as swash plate roller bearings for hydraulic axial piston machines. Other applications are also possible.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A swash plate roller bearing for a hydraulic piston machine having rollers contained in a curved cage between the cylindrical bearing surface of the swash plate and the hollow cylindrical bearing surface of the machine housing is disclosed in DE-PS No. 16 53 617. In this disclosure, the cage is equipped with a pinion gear for the forced guidance of the cage which meshes with one toothed segment connected with the machine housing and with another toothed segment connected with the swash plate. In this known embodiment, one of the toothed segment's is solidly attached to the housing and the other is flexibly attached to the swash plate. The pitch circle diameter of the pinion gear differs from the diameter of the rollers, and the shaft of the pinion gear is offset relative to the shaft of the roller unit. The flexible mounting of the toothed segment connected with the swash plate permits a slight deviation of the cage from the precise theoretical motion--which equals half the motion of the swash plate--thereby guaranteeing a pure roller motion of the rollers in their designated races.
In DE-PS No. 16 53 617, a relatively large amount of effort is required to achieve. Indeed, in tangential recesses of the flexibly attached toothed segment, springs have been installed which push the toothed segment into a central position against projections of the swash plate.